Invented the Wheel is a communal family band formed roughly mid to late April 2011. They began as mere hunters and gatherers and have recently been able to adapt and evolve to a slightly more agricultural band that will remain semi nomadic for the meantime. Their goal is to evolve their mindset to eventually be able to 'invent the wheel' in a sense of evolving to a higher sophistication and adopt a greater community feel with increasing specialization to enable growth and expansion.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The Creation

The Band 'Invented the Wheel' was formed not merely by chance in mid April 2011. Grouped together from a select group they complement each others' talents and abilities. With a slightly higher male to female ratio they are able to have the man power to hunt game while the females are able to tend nurture and tend to the little ones as well as begin the agricultural side of the community as the males typically are out hunting. Our Elder and mentor paired the 5 of us together relying on her wisdom and experience knowing how we would complement each other to compensate for each others weaknesses and support each others strengths. The current band, Invented the wheel, has five members: Chris, Josh, Keona, Ephraim, and Elka. They begin their journey as a band and unite together to eventually grow to a stronger family unit with increasing bonds and ties between them in order to increase their chances of survival.

Learning from Our Elder

Our elder, after dividing us into clans, brought us out of the classroom and into s farm right beside the temple. She mentioned that we need to farm for us to understand how ancient people get their food and how it affected their culture. We are instructed to gather enough sweet potatoes and Pele leaves for us to survive lunch. Aside from that, we would need to make a basket strong enough to carry the food. Though it seemed to be a challenging task, we were privileged to be given 2 crude wooden sticks (which we were not allowed to lose) to help us gather food.

Picking Up Potatoes and Pele

She then accompanied us on our way to our farming spot. On the way she pointed out certain plants that are about 3 - 4 feet tall and proceeded to eat one of the leaves of the said plant. The Pele can be eaten raw, she mentioned, however none of us ate a single leaf. As we approach our farming spot, our clan decided to divide the required tasks. The women will have the burden of making the baskets. While the men pillaged the married people’s farm and gather the sweet potatoes.

Creation of the carrier and Interaction with the other groups

In order to bring our food back from the farm, we had to make a carrier that was sturdy enough to hold five sweet potatoes and a small amount of pele. To make this we decided to use the leaves of a banana tree. We first thought we should tie the leaves together and lay the potatoes on top. Then, we thought we thought it would be sturdier if we also wrapped string around the outside of it so that it would encase our food. This proved to be the best and we were able to carry it all the way back. Our interactions with the other groups of people were minimal. We spoke mostly with only our group, but we shared the string that we used to make our carrier.